Science Social:
‘The Forest of the Sea’
A talk on kelp, climate and the future of the Ocean

Guest Presenter: David Helvarg
Saturday, August 8, 2026
5:00 - 7:30 PM
5:00 Happy Hour (Food, wine, beer, and soft drinks)
6:00 Presentation Begins

Author and Ocean activist David Helvarg will recount his memorable 2-year journey beneath the waves and through kelp’s natural and human history that spans the globe.  Also, the 500 billion dollars of products and services it contributes to our economy and the human activities that threaten its survival.

While they cover more space than the Amazon Rainforest, kelp forests are largely out of sight and out of mind below the cold waters of up to one third of the world’s coastlines, including some of which he got to dive in and sail across.  He’ll highlight the people working for the understanding, protection, restoration and edible harvesting of this amazing macroalgae (including those discussed in Chapter 6 - 'Fort Bragg')  and the more than 1,000 species from sea otters to salmon to sea dragons that depend on it.  He’ll also talk about what each of us can do in our day to day lives to make a difference for our blue marble planet’s flora and fauna, both wet and dry, that we are all entangled with.   

David will also be signing copies of his book earlier in the day, on Saturday, August, at the Discovery Center, from 1-3 PM.

Book Signing:
The Forest of the Sea
with Author David Helvarg

Saturday, August 8, 2026
1:00–3:00 PM
Discovery Center
338 N. Main St. in Fort Bragg

David Helvarg is an author and Executive Director of Blue Frontier, an ocean policy group and co-host of the Rising Tide Ocean Podcast. He has written seven books, the latest ‘Forest of the Sea’ (2026). He's co-founder of the Peter Benchley Ocean Awards and a Senior Fellow with the Center for the Blue Economy. An award-wining journalist, Helvarg has been a war correspondent in Northern Ireland and Central America and covered issues ranging from the military and health to climate and politics reporting from every continent including Antarctica. He’s produced documentaries for PBS, Discovery and others. His print work has appeared widely including in The New York Times and National Geographic. He's done radio commentaries and reporting for Marketplace, AP and Pacifica and workshops for fellow journalists around the world. He is also a licensed Private Investigator, body-surfer and scuba diver.  

Join us on Saturday, August, in person at the Noyo Center Marine Field Station, for David’s presentation, ‘The Forest of the Sea’ – A talk on kelp, climate and the future of the Ocean, from 5-8PM.

Ocean Hoptimism will explore kelp forests on July 23. This is the story of why hundreds of Bay Area people keep showing up monthly on a Thursday night to hear hopeful ocean stories, connect with one another, and discover pathways from awe to action.

Join award-winning filmmaker Natasha Benjamin and renowned ocean advocate and author David Helvarg for an evening exploring one of the ocean’s most remarkable stories of collapse, resilience, restoration, and the communities working to bring kelp forests back.

BLUE FORESTS
🌿 July 23 | Faction Brewing | Alameda, CA

Reserve your spot

Join us for another exciting session in our Greenspace Speakers Series.  This month we have Author David Helvarg who just published a new book, "Forest of the Sea" about the state of our Kelp forests. Mr. Helvarg is also Executive Director of Blue Frontier, “The Voice for Ocean Action” that organizes people who care about our blue planet to impact policy and promote solutions to the many challenges facing our living seas. 

An award-winning journalist, Helvarg produced broadcast documentaries for PBS, The Discovery Channel, and others. His print work has appeared in publications including The New York Times, LA Times, Smithsonian and National Geographic. He’s done radio work for Marketplace, AP radio, and Pacifica, as well as led workshops for journalists in half a dozen countries. David is also a licensed Private Investigator, body-surfer and scuba diver.

A $10 donation per person is suggested to support the Greenspace Speaker Series. To reserve your spot: use the QR code on the flyer or this payment link, or email admin@greenspacecambria.org or call the office 805.927.2866. 

Baked goods and refreshments will be served. 

David will be doing a book signing on Sunday at Salty Pages Bookstore in Cambria at 1:00 pm prior to his lecture. Another amazing Sunday in Cambria! Reserve your free spot for the book signing at Salty Pages here.

The Forest of the Sea: 
The Remarkable Life and Imperiled Future of Kelp

June 5, 2026 @ 7:30pm

Dance Exchange | Takoma Park, MD

Join us for a book talk and creative evening with award-winning journalist, author, and environmental advocate David Helvarg, celebrating his seventh book, The Forest of the Sea: The Remarkable Life and Imperiled Future of Kelp. Helvarg is the founder of the Blue Frontier Campaign and a leading voice in marine conservation whose work explores the intersections of journalism, activism, and ocean ecosystems.

This gathering will invite participants into conversation with David. Dance Exchange will open space for reflection, imagination, and response, exploring the vital role kelp forests and ocean ecosystems play in our shared climate future—and how creative practice can deepen attention, relationship, and action.

Hosted by Dance Exchange Executive Artistic Director and Lead Artist for Climate Cassie Meador, and longtime Dance Exchange partner, board member, and Climate Advisory Council member Elli Kerlow, the program brings together art, science, and community dialogue.

Cassie and Elli will guide the evening, connecting the themes of the book to Dance Exchange’s broader Climate Initiative and inviting participants to experience how embodied creative practice can open new ways of seeing, sensing, and responding to a changing world.

Info and link to register online.

Join us to learn how science, culture, and hope can converge to restore one of Earth's most vital marine habitats.

RSVP here.

In a matter of decades, a spectacular cold-water paradise thirty million years in the making is succumbing to warming oceans. Kelp forests are largely out of sight, hidden under the ocean's surface, yet they are one of Earth's most wonderous and underappreciated marine habitats. It's an ethereal light-infused realm of sharks, otters, eels, sea stars, crabs, rockfish, and myriad other species vital to a functioning ocean and the countless coastal communities that make their living from the sea. Unlike coral reefs, whose similar plight plays out in tropical waters highly visible to vacationing tourists, kelp forests thrive along cold-water coastlines far from tourist centers. What will it take to stop the decline before these underwater playgrounds bursting with colorful life become vast fields of lifeless urchin barrens?

For readers who know kelp only as tangles on the ocean surface or smelly mounds of seaweed littering beaches, Forest of the Sea reveals a thriving three-dimensional underwater world of color and beauty whose loss if allowed to happen will reverberate in unimaginable ways for both nature and humans. David Helvarg, a veteran journalist and accomplished scuba diver, takes us on a memorable journey beneath the waves through kelp's natural and human history, the billions of dollars of products and services it contributes to our global economy, the unwitting human activities that threaten its survival, and the hopeful movements around the world to restore kelp habitat. Helvarg introduces us to Indigenous leaders promoting sea otter reintroduction, out-of-work urchin fisherman, documentary filmmakers, and ocean scientists all working in an unlikely collaboration to restore and protect kelp forests while promoting a growing range of uses for food, medicine, and energy.

Forest of the Sea is the first book to document what is at stake if we lose these irreplaceable marine jewels, helping readers to understand how these natural systems might adapt and survive.

AUTHOR EVENT

Tuesday, May 19th 5-7pm | Forest of the Sea, David Helvarg

Kelp forests, “entrancing cathedrals of light and life”, contribute significantly to the health of our planet as well as the world economy. Alarmingly, marine heat waves threaten this incredibly biodiverse ecosystem. On May 19th we’ll welcome David Helvarg, a journalist, environmental activist, and author of Forest of the Sea. There is much to learn and much that can be done to protect these vital marine habitats, and we hope you will join us for an informative evening.

RSVP to maria@lagunabeachbooks.com

Forest of the Sea by David Helvarg - Book Talk & Signing

The Forest of the Sea – A talk on kelp, climate and the future of the Ocean by David Helvarg
Award-winning journalist, author and Executive Director of Blue Frontier David Helvarg will
discuss his newest book, ‘Forest of the Sea – the Remarkable Life and Imperiled Future of Kelp.’

He’ll recount his memorable journey beneath the waves through kelp’s natural and human history, the 500 billion dollars of products and services it contributes to our global economy and the human activities that threaten its survival making it one of the major emerging ocean issues of this moment.

He’ll explain how the world is facing another forest crisis that’s gone largely unnoticed because, while they cover more space and generate more oxygen than the Amazon Rainforest, kelp forests are largely out of sight and out of mind below the cold waters of up to one third of the world’s temperate coastlines, some of which he got to dive in. He’ll address the role of sea otters, growing marine heatwaves and ‘Zombie urchins’ as well as algae labs and indigenous leadership’s role in the understanding, protection restoration and edible harvesting of this amazing macroalgae. He’ll also talk about ‘Ocean Triage’ or our need to protect what we can while we can.  

Books available for purchase via UCSD Bookstore at the event.

More information here.

Patagonia Santa Monica

Sunday, May 17 6:00pm 

Forest of the Sea Book Talk with The Bay Foundation

Join us for an evening with author David Helvarg and The Bay Foundation CEO Tom Ford in discussion of Helvarg's book, Forest of the Sea!

For readers who know kelp only as tangles on the ocean surface or smelly mounds of seaweed
littering beaches, Forest of the Sea reveals a thriving three-dimensional underwater world of
color and beauty whose loss if allowed to happen will reverberate in unimaginable ways for both
nature and humans. Author David Helvarg, a veteran journalist and accomplished scuba diver,
takes us on a memorable journey beneath the waves through kelp’s natural and human history,
the billions of dollars of products and services it contributes to our global economy, the unwitting
human activities that threaten its survival, and the hopeful movements around the world to
restore kelp habitat.

We will have beverages available as well as a chance-to-win drawing with all proceeds going towards The Bay Foundation! 

Doors open at 5:30 PM and discussion begins at 6 PM 

We look forward to seeing you there! 

RSVP here.

Cabrillo Marine Aquarium and Friends

Saturday, May 16
3 - 5 P.M.
‘Forest of the Sea’
A talk on kelp and the future of the Ocean by David Helvarg
Book Signing to follow

Join us in the CMA Auditorium to hear award-winning journalist, author, podcaster and Executive Director of Blue Frontier David Helvarg discuss his newest book, ‘Forest of the Sea – The Remarkable Life and Imperiled Future of Kelp'.

He’ll recount his memorable journey beneath the waves and through kelp’s natural and human history, and the 500 billion dollars of products and services it contributes to our global economy, from snacks to cosmetics to jet fuel. Mr. Helvarg will also discuss the human activities that threaten kelp's survival, making it one of the emerging but underreported ocean and food security issues of our time.

He will explain how the world is facing another forest crisis that’s gone largely unnoticed because, while they cover more space and generate more oxygen than the Amazon Rainforest, kelp forests are largely out of sight and out of mind below the cold waters of approximately one third of the world’s coastlines, some of which he got to dive in.

He’ll address the roles of sea otters, growing marine heatwaves and ‘Zombie urchins’, cutting-edge algae labs and indigenous leadership in the understanding, protection, restoration and edible harvesting of this amazing macroalgae. He’ll also talk about ‘Ocean Triage’ or why we need to protect what we can while we can.

After Mr. Helvarg's talk, stop by the Gift Shop for a book signing. The talk and book signing are free to attend and open to the public.

Questions? Email membership@cmaqua.org

AltaSea Open House: Books, Boats, Better Future

Join us at AltaSea for our next Open House, featuring two engaging conversations with leaders shaping the future of our oceans and coastal communities.

On Saturday, May 16, explore the vital role of kelp ecosystems with David Helvarg, Executive Director of Blue Frontier and author of The Forest of the Sea, followed by a book signing. Then, hear from Hampus Idsäter of Suntex Marinas as he shares insights on the future of recreational boating in California and the evolving role of marinas in sustainable coastal development.

More information here.

Corinthian Yacht Club of San Francisco

SPEAKER SERIES 2026

Thursday, May 14, 2026
David Helvarg, Founder, Blue Frontier
Discussing his new book Forest of the Sea

David Helvarg is Founder and Executive Director of Blue Frontier, a national ocean policy group based in Richmond. Tonight he’ll discuss his newest book, Forest of the Sea, named one of the Top 10 Science books of the spring by Publishers Weekly, it’s gotten great reviews from Ted Danson, Leon Panetta, Sylva Earle and others. He’ll discuss how kelp forests – including off California - are hugely productive ecosystems, larger than the Amazon Rainforest and equally threatened even as they provide us food security, storm protection, oxygen and more. He’ll talk of adventuring around the world to tell the story of kelp, climate and the Ocean   

A prolific journalist, Helvarg has written more than 600 articles, 40 documentaries and is the author of six past books:

• Blue Frontier

• The War Against the Greens

• 50 Ways to Save the Ocean 

• Rescue Warriors

• Saved by the Sea

• The Golden Shore 

Helvarg co-founded the Peter Benchley Ocean Awards, is a Sr. Fellow with the Center for the Blue Economy and Executive Producer of the new, award-winning film Sequoias of the Sea.   

He’s worked as a war correspondent in Northern Ireland and Central America, covered a range of issues from military science to the AIDS epidemic, and reported from every continent including Antarctica. An award-winning producer for PBS, Marketplace and others, he is also a licensed Private Investigator, body-surfer and scuba diver.

Thanks to KKMI for their ongoing support Free & Open to the Public   ** Sail Loft Bar opens at 6:30  
Reservations requested:  speakers@cyc.org

Corinthian Yacht Club Ballroom

43 Main Street, Tiburon

Author Event: Forest of the Sea by David Helvarg

Join us for a special event with David Helvarg, author of Forest of the Sea. This event is free, but we appreciate your RSVP so we can plan for your attendance.

More information here.

Join us at Hopkins Marine Station for an author event celebrating prolific author, accomplished journalist, documentary producer, and tireless ocean activist, David Helvarg, and his new book, Forest of the Sea: The Remarkable Life and Imperiled Future of Kelp.

A powerful call to action that shows how science, culture, and hope can converge to restore one of Earth's most vital marine habitat.

120 OceanView Blvd, Pacific Grove, CA 93950

More information here.

April 29th @ Sausalito Yacht Club